ZenRows vs Bright Data in 2026

ZenRows code runs as written

Each ZenRows call keeps its path, its parameters and its parser. The address changes, and the key.

# ZenRows: before
curl "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_KEY&url=https://example.com"
# ZenRows: after
curl "https://api.specstream.ai/zenrows/v1/?apikey=$SPECSTREAM_KEY&url=https://example.com"

url, response_type, json_response and outputs keep their meaning, and errors come back in ZenRows' codes: 404 RESP002, 422 RESP001, 400 REQS004, 401 AUTH002. Not returned: the X-Request-Id, X-Request-Cost, Zr-Final-Url and Concurrency-* headers, xhr, and headings and images from outputs. The full table is in the ZenRows guide.

A Bright Data call becomes one Extract API call

A Web Unlocker call sends one URL and gets the page back. The Extract API takes up to 20 URLs a call and returns each page's main text as Markdown or plain text.

# Bright Data Web Unlocker: before
curl https://api.brightdata.com/request \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BRIGHTDATA_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"zone": "YOUR_ZONE", "url": "https://example.com", "format": "raw"}'

# SpecStream Extract API: after, up to 20 pages a call
curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/extract \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"urls": ["https://example.com"], "format": "markdown"}'

Each item of data.results carries the url, a status, the page's main text without its menus, footers and ads, its title, and the published date when the page states one. Only a page with status ok is charged.

One price for every page, from credit that does not expire

ZenRows charges 1, 5, 10 or 25 credits a page, so the same plan reads a different number of pages each month, and plan credits expire at every renewal. Bright Data's free credits reset on the first of each month. SpecStream charges $0.80 per 1,000 pages whatever the page needs: $19 reads 23,750 pages, and credit you buy never expires.

Scores published on the official sets

The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The Search API on the same key scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, 978 of them correct, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. Every score and its method is on the benchmarks page.

Zero retention on any key

Set zero_retention when you create a key. A call made with that key keeps no request text and no answer after the reply.

curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "production", "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"], "spend_cap_cents": 500000, "zero_retention": true}'

Search, pages and rows on the same key

A scrape API reads the pages you already know. On SpecStream the same key searches the live web from $1 per 1,000 searches, reads up to 20 pages a call with the Extract API, and runs Deep Search, which returns every match for a request as rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row. Saved requests rerun hourly to yearly, each row labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching, and new rows arrive in Slack, a sheet, a CRM or a signed webhook.

AlterLab

A scrape API billed per request in five tiers, from $0.0002 for a direct fetch to $0.02 for an extended browser session, with a $10 minimum deposit. SpecStream charges $0.80 per 1,000 pages for every page, and its credit never expires.

Apify

A store of Actors billed by plan and usage. Starter costs $19 a month plus pay as you go, platform usage is $0.2 per compute unit, and its Unblocker costs $1.5 per 1,000 requests. SpecStream returns the records an Actor collects from a request in plain words, at 5¢ to $1 a row. See Apify alternatives.

ScrapingBee

A page API whose Hobby plan costs $19 a month for 75,000 credits, with 1,000 free credits to start. SpecStream answers ScrapingBee's call at https://api.specstream.ai/scrapingbee/api/v1/ at one price per page.

Firecrawl

Scrape, crawl and search endpoints billed in credits: 1 credit a page and 2 credits per 10 search results, with Hobby at $19 a month for 5,000 credits. SpecStream answers Firecrawl's v2 calls at https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl, with search at $1 per 1,000 and pages at $0.80 per 1,000.